Goodbye
by rose of light
Summary: Ugh... a visitor? Not this early. Don't give me 'it's one in the afternoon.' ...huh? What does HE want!"


**Whew, first new story in a while!**

**Disclaimer: I can only dream of owning Naruto...**

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After turning his back to her and taking a step, he stopped. "Oh..."

_Ugh..._

"...just one more thing..."

_What now...?_

"...before I leave."

_It's too early for this. _

She leaned back and squeezed her eyelids together in order to shut out the sunlight - _noonday _sunlight - that was painfully amplified through the Saki-induced mist that fogged up her head.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open in alarm.

The man was now on her side of the Hokage desk, ramming a large hand into her stomach. The force caused her to slam painfully into the wall at her back. She had to gasp for air as she slid down to the floor. At this point, her hangover was quite gone.

"What the heck are you doing?!" was all she could push out of her aching lungs. She tried to counter-attack, but when trying to move she found herself completely immobilized.

_Blast!! A paralysis jutsu?! Where the heck did he learn that?!_

She was desperately attempting to coax movement from her transfixed limbs when the exorbitant hand and its partner grabbed either side of her scandalous shirt and jerked her into the standing position. The defiant anger she felt was immediately replaced by fear when she saw the the scalding intensity in his eyes, which were fully focused on her. His next words burned as fiercely as his gaze.

"I've waited a long time for this moment - too long, in fact. It ends today."

She paled. _This is not good. I've got to move, now!_

The jutsu was still not allowing her body to cooperate. She began storing chakra in her arms so she could unleash it in such a way that could at least buy her some time.

Another rough jerk put her face mere inches from that horrendous look. She was about to release the built-up energy--

Then he tenderly pressed his lips against hers.

"Shock" would have been a massive understatement for what she felt. She had been preparing for the worst...and then to be kissed?

Next she was livid. After all, how dare he kiss her! She was not some street-corner prostitute that he could have his way with! In fact, she would have blown him away with all of her chakra right then but for two reasons: first, the chakra she had stored had drained away, and second, she sensed no lust in the kiss. Desire, yes, but also...sincere affection.

Now she actually felt the kiss - how the feeling of his lips against hers was so right and so...wonderful. Not like anything she had experienced before. In fact, she was on the verge of kissing him back when, to her dissapointment, he pulled away.

He allowed himself a brief, smug half-smile at the dazed look he had caused her face to assume and then quickly wiped it away. Gently taking hold of her arms, he brought her to her chair and set her down - cautious to postion her in such a way that she would not fall once the paralysis-jutsu faded.

With a countenece of contentment - or, rather, "release" - he spoke softly.

"I am a coward no longer."

Jiraiya turned and walked through the large, carven double-doors, leaving an astonished Tsunade behind the ancient Hokage desk.

She still could not believe that actually happened. It was like she was floating between a dream-like existence and another dimension. Just drifting...

Then she drifted too far and began falling forward. Just as her head was about to make contact with the desk, her hands shot out and caught her weight. She eyed the instinctive extremities curiously before realizing a pivotal fact - the jutsu had finally worn off.

Forcing her mind to move to the task at hand, she pushed herself back upright in her seat. It felt wonderful for her to be able to move again. She was massaging the light numbness bequeathed to several limbs when she heard it.

_Crrttzzzz..._

Her ears perked as she looked around the room. A large radio transmitter to the was crackling with life - the same one she had switched off just minutes before the previous..."encounter". For it to be on...

"_La---Ts---!!"_ a voice attempted to call from the speakers.

Tsunade took the dial between an index finger and thumb in order to adjust the channel. _CrrKKKssshhhttzzz..._

The voice still tried, and, eventually, cooperation from both sides produced results."_C--an you hear m--?_"

"Yeah, I can hear you now, but--"

"_Oh, ma'am! We've been trying to reach you for almost an hour!_"

"Oh. Sorry, Shizune..."

"_This is-- huh?! Uhhhh, it's okay, I guess... But, ma'am! We have horrible news._"

"Well, what is it?"

"_My Lady, we've just found the body of Lord Jiraiya._"

Tsunade fell deathly silent.

"_Right now, we can't really tell how he died, but we do know one thing -_ **he has been dead for at least three days**."

_Crrttzzzz..._

"_Lady Tsunade?_"

_Crrttzzzz..._

"_Lady Tsunade? Are you still there? Lady Tsunade_."

_Crrttzzzz..._

"_Lady Tsunade_!!"

_Crrttzzzz..._

_Click_.

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End file.
